(ALJAZEERA) Amid the ongoing violence in South Sudan, religious workers have held their ground and helped protect civilians.

Nuns in South Sudan know a thing or two about war.

"We learned fast with the bullets whistling past our ears," said Sister Barbara Paleczny, chuckling at the memory of her younger self when she moved here five years ago.

Paleczny, 70, a teacher with the Rome-based NGO Solidarity with South Sudan, has lived in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. But it's the city of Malakal - where civil war has raged in recent months - that she calls home.

Malakal, an oil town on the banks of the White Nile, has changed hands between the government and rebel forces several times since December, according to the missionaries who are there. Each attack and counterattack has led to fresh atrocities, which the nuns have done their best to prevent. The sisters have confronted military chiefs about rape, negotiated for civilian protection amid rocket-propelled grenade fire, and held their ground when international humanitarians and peacekeepers left.

South Sudan's frontline nuns - mostly Europeans and Americans – can dig a foxhole and distinguish a loaded Antonov bomber from an unloaded one based on its engine noise alone. They are agile, witty and plain-clothed - wearing a nun's habit in South Sudan's sultry climate wouldn't work.

Coptic Christianity reached ancient Nubia in the second century but 500 years later came under pressure from Islam. Christian missionaries who arrived in the latter half of the 19th century were beaten and tortured, imprisoned, and forced to marry. They battled famine and plague as nurses and undertakers, and fought prostitution and slavery.

Fifty-years ago, the Sudanese government expelled them. When independence was granted to the predominantly Christian south in 2011, the missionaries pinned their hopes on a lasting peace.

'We stayed through all the battles'

But two-and-a-half years later, their hopes are smashed. A split within South Sudan's ruling party boiled over into armed conflict shortly before Christmas 2013. The war pits rebels loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar against President Salva Kiir. Experts agree that civilians have borne the brunt of the crisis - at least 10,000 people are believed to be dead.

Paleczny described how for last Christmas Day, December 25, her colleague, an Irish woman named Sister Betty, had been saving homemade plum pudding for lunch. But the nuns were forced to spend the day hiding in a cupboard in the church as artillery and mortars rocked the ground around them. "It was like a heavy thunderstorm with rain as bullets, and thunder as mortars and bombs. The house shook," Paleczny said.

In the late afternoon, there was a lull in the fighting. The sisters stole out of the church's windowless closet and made it to the kitchen. They put the pudding on to cook - but no sooner had they set it alight with flaming whiskey and eaten it than the artillery began again.

Paleczny had survived a number of attacks on Malakal before the recent outbreak of violence. "We stayed through all the battles when the NGOs cleared out," she said. While the nuns carried on with their business - improving education, healthcare, journalism, agriculture - the NGOs sometimes took months to return.

Religious workers in South Sudan have weathered the war. One Italian priest, who asked to remain anonymous, has continued his pastoral work in the field despite the civil war. When the government advanced on rebel leader Machar's hometown of Leer, kicking off another brutal round of attacks and counterattacks, the priest's colleagues noticed that he had disappeared.

A few days later, the sturdy, grey-haired, 67-year old appeared in Nyal, roughly 80km to the south. He had waded through bulrushes on the edge of a swamp and spent two days in a canoe to get there. After arriving in Nyal, he set out on foot, walking for three hours a day to make his pre-Easter visit to some of the remotest communities in the country.

"It gives credibility if you root yourself in and stay with the locals, even in life-threatening situations," said Klaus Stieglitz, vice chairman of Sign of Hope, one of the few NGOs with a presence in Nyal. In the past, international aid workers evacuated during periods of insecurity because of stringent risk-assessments. Missionaries, however, often remained at their posts.

Atrocities and nightmares

Recently, Sister Paleczny agreed to leave Malakal. "What can I do for people hiding in this tiny room?" she asked herself. Soon after leaving Malakal, she began to have nightmares for the first time in her life. Her mind was re-enacting atrocities in her dreams.

"Anything I'd heard about, it became real and I saw it at night – the killings, the atrocities," she said. "Daily quiet time gives a chance for things inside to surface. People have been so traumatised. We must be aware that we can have secondary trauma."

Paleczny spent the first two months of this year teaching in Rumbek, a town yet to be touched by the fighting. Meanwhile, her fellow Sister Elena Balatti stayed on. Balatti belongs to the Comboni Missionaries, a powerful, elite unit of church workers whose history in South Sudan dates back nearly 200 years.

The Combonis have survived decades of bombing by the Sudanese government, both during the 20-year civil war and after. Balatti was unfazed even after hearing rumours that a counterattack by rebels was imminent. In her dispatch for the Comboni Mission, she wrote that roughly 100 of the town's most vulnerable people were taking shelter in her church compound - most of them elderly, disabled or women with young children. Balatti reassured the displaced people that she would not leave.

Although a ceasefire agreement was signed in January, the deal is not reflected by the reality on the ground. On February 18, Balatti reported the White Army militia - comprised of members of the Nuerethnic group - arrived in town.

People trying to escape on a truck were caught in the gunfire, hurling themselves from the vehicle and running to the church compound. Its walls provided protection from bullets, but only until 10 a.m. when the rebels breached the compound and started making demands of the sisters.

By evening, there were 30 gunmen in front of the cathedral searching for a pro-government fighter. One of the men readied his rocket-propelled grenade launcher and threatened to hit the church. The sisters stood their ground, doggedly negotiating for the protection of civilians. Early the next morning, Balatti and the other sisters gathered the civilians and left for the Presbyterian church, which was being used as a UN base, where they coordinated a rescue mission for those left behind.

One million displaced

Malakal has been hit by a number of atrocities over the past three months. Fighters have killed civilians en masse, allegedly raped girls as young as nine-years old, and reduced hundreds of homes and public buildings to ashes.

On March 19, the rebels announced the government had retaken the town. But whether they can hold onto it remains to be seen. The government, NGOs, UN peacekeepers and humanitarian staff are all being stretched to the limit. Nearly one million people have been displaced. The UN and its partners issued an appeal for $1.27bn to cope with the deepening humanitarian crisis, but aid efforts remain critically underfunded.

But Sister Paleczny is eager to get back to work, adamant that she will never retire and showing no fear of her own mortality.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Operations Director John Ging has expressed deep concern about the massive and growing humanitarian needs in Sudan and the conflict devastating South Sudan.

Briefing the press after a weeklong visit to the two countries, Mr. Ging appealed for renewed attention and commitment to the plight of people in both countries.

“The scale of death and destruction in the world’s newest nation since last December is appalling,” said Mr. Ging. “Six months ago, the country was on the right path to development. Today, the parties to the conflict are wantonly destroying the very infrastructure which was laying the foundation for the country’s future. I appeal to all those with influence to urgently end the violence.”

Since the start of the brutal crisis in South Sudan, thousands of people have been killed, some 958,000 people have fled from their homes, including 709,000 within South Sudan, while 249,000 others have fled to Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda. Nearly five million people now urgently need basic humanitarian aid in South Sudan.

Aid agencies have so far reached around 925,700 of the 3.2 million people who need to be assisted by June. Mr. Ging appealed to the international community to rapidly provide funding for the response. With the rainy season due to begin in earnest in June, the clock is racing against the humanitarian response. He said that more needs to be done.

“The people of Sudan and South Sudan are facing huge challenges and they deserve the support and attention of the international community,” stressed Mr. Ging. “We urge the parties to the conflicts, and all who have influence on them, to end the violence and to make it possible for aid to be delivered on the massive and swift scale that is needed.”

At the same time, he said that the people of Sudan were facing an overwhelming humanitarian crisis that has almost entirely slipped off the international community’s radar. He added that more people were displaced in Darfur in 2013 than in any single year since 2004. Yet, while people’s needs are increasing, international attention and commitment are at an all-time low, he said.

Over two million people are displaced in Darfur and more than 6.1 million people need humanitarian assistance across Sudan. Many people do not have access to the most basic healthcare, education, water and sanitation, yet, just three per cent of the funding required for humanitarian action in Sudan in 2014 has been received - US$34 million out of $995 million.

During the media briefing, he was accompanied by Yasmine Haque of UNICEF, and fellow Emergency Directors from the Danish Refugee Council, FAO, IOM, UNHCR, WFP and WHO. Mr. Ging said the Emergency Directors engaged in a constructive dialogue with Sudanese authorities and emphasised the need for greater access for humanitarian organisations, particularly in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile States.

“Nearly two years since the adoption of Security Council resolution 2046, aid has still not been delivered to rebel-held areas in South Kordofan and Blue Nile States, where it is estimated 800,000 people are in need of assistance,” said Mr. Ging. “We hope the positive discussions will be swiftly converted into aid on the ground. With the lean season rapidly approaching, we cannot overstate the urgency of the humanitarian needs.”

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme has received authorization to commence operations via the Ethiopian corridor.

Medicins Sans Frontier (MSF) says the sanitation conditions in Tomping camp, Juba, must be improved urgently to avoid disaster. MSF says that the recent rains have exacerbated already deplorable living conditions and increased risk of disease in the camp.

The first torrential rains of the season have left large parts of Tomping camp under water, worsening the already unacceptable living conditions for more than 25,000 people packed into the camp. MSF reports that it was forced to temporarily suspend medical activities at its clinic due to the flooding last week.

MSF says that stagnant water, severe overcrowding, inadequate drainage and a dire shortage of functional latrines, all create ideal conditions for the spread of diarrhoeal diseases and skin infections.

MSF reports that its team was already treating large numbers of patients suffering from diarrhoea, malaria and respiratory infections, illnesses that are likely to surge with the coming rains.

“This downpour is just a preview of what is to come,” says Carolina Lopez, emergency coordinator for MSF. “The full rainy season starts soon and is always accompanied by a huge spike in malaria cases. Add this to the already precarious living conditions in the camp and it is clear the risk for outbreaks is high. The sanitation conditions in the camp must urgently be improved to avoid a disastrous situation.”

More than 25,000 people have sought refuge in the UNMISS compound in Juba, after fighting broke out between government and opposition forces in December. The fighting continues in Upper Nile Region.

The rain that poured last week has flooded parts of the area allocated for the displaced people, leaving their makeshift shelters under water and destroying their few belongings. The deluge also destroyed approximately 150 latrines, a serious problem, given that the number of latrines was already well below what is required in the camp.

Earlier, MSF, in collaboration with the ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, carried out a mass cholera vaccination for the internally displaced people, and the host population of Minkamman, Awerial county and surrounding areas.

In a statement to the media, MSF said it had vaccinated 52,000 people in one week, during the just completed first round of cholera vaccination. During the second round of vaccination to start in April, 40 000 people aged between 1 and 30 years old will also receive vaccination against meningitis.

Additionally, another 10,000 people living on the islands by the River Nile will receive cholera, meningitis and measles vaccinations. The oral anti-cholera vaccine offers protection against the disease for two years and is recommended by the WHO.

With the start of the rainy season and the growing number of displaced people, preventative cholera vaccination will further prevent a full outbreak. Vaccinating against cholera cannot be used alone, and it remains essential to improve hygiene and sanitation conditions.

The government of South Said has said the G7 group of political detainees should only participate in the next phase of negotiations as part of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition, and not as the third force.

Oxfam yesterday announced withdrawal of four of its aid workers who have been trapped by fighting in Malakal, at the same time raising alarm over lack of humanitarian access across the country.

It announced that its staff and other aid agency staff who were working inside the UN compound in the town were unable to leave the compound since fighting began between opposition and South Sudanese government forces last Tuesday morning.

Malakal, a town in South Sudan’s oil producing Upper Nile state, has been completely destroyed and the UN is reporting many civilian deaths.

“The first few days we were all afraid of what was happening in the town because of the sound of regular shelling. As the days went by, we heard terrible reports from the people arriving at the UN for their protection – stories of women and girls who were threatened with abduction by armed men and were then shot as soon as they ran,” said Cecilia Kiden, the head of Oxfam’s response team in Malakal.

As a result of the conflict, Oxfam has been providing food, water and sanitation to around 120,000 displaced people in three locations across the country - Juba, Mingkaman and Malakal. Oxfam is also running an emergency response to South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda where they aim to reach 20,000 people.

When the violence in the town began, Oxfam had to severely scale back its work at the UN base, as regular shelling in the town and violence both inside and outside the base, made the movement of staff and supplies very difficult.

“We will get back to work to help the many vulnerable people in Malakal as soon as possible but the utter breakdown in the cessation of hostilities, as exemplified by this round of violence, is creating a difficult situation for us and an even more desperate situation for the nearly one million displaced by violence in South Sudan. Every day a gun is fired is another blow to a nation on its knees, a political solution to this horrific crisis cannot come soon enough,” said Jose Barahona, Oxfam’s Country Director in South Sudan.

Oxfam ran a long term development programme in the town of Malakal until violence in December caused the agency to suspend its work. Oxfam restarted work in the town in February to promote good hygiene practices among the displaced people sheltering inside the UN base.

Only last week, Medecins Sans Frontieres sounded alarm over the escalating levels of violence in Malakal, saying it was threatening the security of the people who are taking refugee in the UN compound in the town. MSF said it feared that more violence will have devastating consequences on civilians if left unchecked.

“The high levels of violence have disrupted the humanitarian activities launched in Malakal to respond to the crisis,” says Llanos Ortiz, MSF deputy emergency desk manager. “The reigning insecurity is having a direct impact on the lives of the South Sudanese people and is also an obstacle for them to receive impartial medical humanitarian assistance.”

The Chairman of SPLM Youth League and member of Politburo Mr. Akol Paul Kordit, has dismissed allegations that the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party is against democracy. On the contrary, he said that it is the party that brought democracy into the country.

Speaking to media in Nairobi Kenya, Akol said it is the SPLM that insisted for mid-term elections in Sudan during the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

“It is the SPLM who established political parties’ forum in South Sudan. SPLM should be judged by its actions and not assumptions,” said Akol. “We in SPLM believe in democracy in the party and government.”

He said that in 2008 during the SPLM national convention, there was open democracy in the party and that is why the chairperson’s position was freely contested, in which president Salva Kiir was challenged by a party member from Northern Sudan, even though he later withdraw his candidature.

He recounted that in the 2010 general elections, president Kiir again contested against Dr. Lam Akol of SPLM-DC, in a free and fair election. He said that the party was now prepared for the next general elections to face any political party. He added that the allegations against the SPLM that it is anti-democracy are unfounded and baseless.

“When there is a small problem in the house, can you demolish the entire house? If the door or window of your house is bad, does it make you to burn down your house?” asked Akol.

He said that like in any system anywhere in the world, mistakes sometimes happen, such as corruption and nepotism. But you cannot just destroy the system that people fought for for many years because of things that can be solved by dialogue, he added.

Akol claimed that Dr. Riek Machar had no political agenda other than destruction and tribal war. He added that Dr. Machar had made one tribe to fight the national government. He said such a war will never succeed because it lacks objective and it is causing the death of innocent people.

Saying that the conflict is between rebels and government, he claimed that Dr. Machar’s forces are composed of only one ethnic community, meaning that the war is not for the benefit of people of South Sudan. If it was for South Sudanese, why should it not have members from other communities, leave alone the disgruntle politicians who joined him, said Akol.

He further said that the rebellion could be Dr. Machar’s own agenda, but that it must be having foreign support. Akol confirmed the formation of SPLM committee by president Kiir and disputed the appointment of Taban Deng Gai.

“We are only four of us from the SPLM appointed by President and Chairman of SPLM Gen. Salva Kiir, we are Akol Paul Kordit, Daniel Awet Akot, Paul Mayom Akech and Nunu Kumba, but the president did not appoint Taban Deng and the rest.”

The formation of this committee came about because IGAD wanted to separate party issues from the rebellion. Therefore, it is hoped that SPLM issues will be solved internally and separately from the negotiations.

The proponents of this strategy hope to do away with what is called the ‘third bloc’ or G7. The G7 is made up of members of the SPLM who were suspected to have connections with said failed coup attempt in Juba, which led to their detention. They have denied that they are party to Dr. Machar’s rebellion, Akol said.

He added that they had no right to sign the declaration of principles since their concerns can be handled within the party. Akol said the seven have not been suspended from the party unlike Dr. Machar, Taban Deng and Lado Gore. The G7 are members of SPLM and they are entitled to their opinions like any other members, but should not form another bloc in the negotiations, he said.

Akol, who doubles up as SPLM Youth League chairman and MP of Rumbek in the national parliament, said the youth league is the political wing of the movement for young people. Its role is to mobilize youth to rally behind the vision and mission of the SPLM, and to support the legitimately elected president and chairman of SPLM and to defend their country.

He said that the SPLM youth league condemned Dr. Machar’s misuse of innocent young people known as ‘White Army’ in his senseless war.

“We call upon and urged the ‘White Army’ to stop being fooled into tribal rebellion, as the future generation of this country, they must join hands with the SPLM youth league in bringing peace,” he said.

The government of Norway has said that accusations made against the United Nations Mission in South Sudan’s and its chief, UN Special Representative Ms. Hilde Johnson, are unreasonable and groundless.

In a press release, the Norway ministry of Foreign Affairs said the accusations that have been made against the UN mission in South Sudan in the last few days are unacceptable.

“The UN represents the entire international community in its efforts to support South Sudan on the path towards peace, reconciliation and economic and social development," said the Norway minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Børge Brende.

The statement said that before and since South Sudan became independent in 2011, the UN has been the most important international partner for the people of the country.

“The recent accusations against the UN are therefore unacceptable, and are undermining the relationship of trust between the authorities and the international community. Norway has full confidence in UNMISS and the head of mission, Hilde Frafjord Johnson," said Mr. Brende. Ms. Hilde Johnson is of Norwegian origin.

The UN has refuted claims that it had smuggled weapons into South Sudan in support of the rebel forces fighting against the government forces. The UN has also expressed regret that the UN guidelines for transport of weapons were not followed.

Mr. Brende said it was important to restore the relationship of trust between the UN and the authorities in South Sudan.

“I expect the government of South Sudan and President Salva Kiir to cooperate fully with the UN in resolving the humanitarian, security and political challenges the country is facing,” he said.

Last week, there were demonstrations against the UN mission in South Sudan, with some of the demonstrators calling for the removal of Ms. Hilde Johnson, saying that the UN was partisan in the conflict engulfing the country currently.

This happened after UN trucks carrying weapons were stopped by security forces in Rumbek, while they were on their way to Bentiu. The demonstrators claim the weapons were being delivered to the rebels, while the UN said that the weapons were for Ghanaian soldiers and they were transported by road mistakenly. UN rules require that all weapons should be transported by air.